Which variety of Tomato and cucumber?

[gadgetman]

Looking at growing our own tomato's and cucumber.

We like both large and cherry tomato's, yet are confused by the names of all the plants. Our local garden centre has over 20 varieties! We prefer sweet over sour.

They also have a handful of cucumber varieties as well.

Can anyone help with which are best and aftercare for winter? Are they annuals?

Many thanks.

[smallblueplanet]

Tomatoes and cukes are grown as annuals. Write down the varieties they have and let us know, we'll give you some 'reviews'.

[Two_Sheds]

Get Sungold if you can, it's fab (yellow cherry, very sweet)

[pigletwillie]

I agree with sungold, as for cucumbers I dont faff about with the prima donna F1 varieties, I just grow marketmore, burpless tasty green and crystal lemon. All are relatively easy, productive and above all tasty.

[Alison]

Don't restrict yourself to just one type of tomato, grow a few and see which ones you like best.

[rogesse]

ooh, glad you mentioned sungold - never tried it before. The bottom truss has flowered and set in the poly. Looking forward to it.

[gadgetman]

Thanks everyone. I'll pop up there the weekend and report back.

[cupcake]

Sounds like a good garden centre with that many varieties!

[tracey14]

If you are growing tomatoes for the first time I would suggest either gardeners delight that can be grown in a pot or if you want to grow cherry tomatoes in a hanging basket you could look out for tumbling tomatoes.

You didn't mention where you were growing them? The plant will only last for this year then you will dispose of them. You also didn't mention if you were growing from seed or looking to buy a plant in the garden centres. They would sell for around 50p to £1.50 each.

[Alison]

It's too late now really to sow tomato seeds and the advantage a newbie has in buying plants is that they can try a few different varieties. It's worth looking what type of plant they are ie determinate or indeterminate. The former are bush types which don't need much work ie pinching out side shoots etc and the later grow taller (pretty much as tall as you want) but need the side shoots pinched out. I find that both types need support, but the indeterminate ones need it from early in the season. Also, considere if you are growing inside or out and pick to suit. You can grow pretty much any type in a tub which can be handy.

[Mac]

Hi all, first year growing anything, and have 3 tom plants on the go, gardeners delights, money maker and tumbling tom. None of them seem to be growing particularly quickly but are getting flower buds on them (aprox 1ft tall plants). The tumbling tom is looking just like the others just now - can anyone tell me when they start "tumbling" and what sort of maintenance they need (side shoot pinching, watering etc...). Am a bit confused about some of the stuff I'm reading!

[Alison]

I find that tumbling toms don't really start tumbling until the weight of the fruit pull them over so you're OK for now. Re maintenance, they don't need any pinching, I only cut off bits that are in the way if the plant gets too big but that's not really necessary. For watering and feeding, treat as any other plant. Keep them well watered (but not too much) in hot weather and give them a weak feed of tomato (or similar) feed about once a week when the fruit starts to set.

[Mac]

Thanks for that Alison. i think my problem is that I bought too many books!

[Alison]

Oh yes, the too much conflicting info problem, suffer from that a lot!